Adam Steele 31 The Cheaters by George G. Gilman

Author:George G. Gilman [Gilman, George G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Piccadilly
Published: 2022-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

A VOICE STEELE did not recognize slowly filtered through the lifting veil of unconsciousness.

‘When I heard the shootin’ I figured the worst had happened. Real crazy of me to come runnin’ the way I did, I guess. Could’ve got myself shot if you and the Daytons was throwin’ lead. But it was the first thought I had. And I followed it.’

Now he remembered - it was Jennie Colman. Slowly, but disjointedly, the day’s events began to assemble in Steele’s mind.

‘Can’t pretend there’s anythin’ very special about you, Adam Steele. If any halfways decent lookin’ man had eyed me the way you done yesterday mornin’, I’d have worried about him the way I fretted over you.’

She made a gulping sound. And the Virginian thought momentarily that she was on the verge of weeping. But then glass chinked on glass and liquid was poured. He smelled rye whiskey.

‘But you was just lookin’, weren’t you?’ she went on rhetorically. ‘Like you’d look at any halfways decent lookin’ woman if you passed her on the street. I ain’t no different from most of them. I ain’t a slut wants to go with everythin’ in pants. Just a normal woman once had a man to go with her regular. And hankers for a taste of what used to be from time to time. Show it more than most women, I guess. But what the hell? A person’s got just the one life. And it ain’t so long. Must be real lousy to be old and look back on what you done with your life. When all you done is missed out on everythin’ good.’

She took a long swallow of the freshly poured drink. And Steele uttered a low groan. She gasped. He groaned again and moved his head from one side to the other. Opened and closed his eyes several times before he left them open.

This entire charade was designed to save the woman from embarrassment. He owed her this much at least, for bringing him in from Little Lake and seeing to it that he had a comfortable place in which to recover. He had played possum only to get recent events straight in his own mind before he admitted to being conscious and was forced to face the future.

The woman was to his left. Seated by the bed on a chair that creaked just a little whenever she moved. The sounds she made were the only ones to compete with his own breathing.

He hurt all over, but not so much as he had hurt before what had obviously been a long period of rest.

Jennie Colman set down her glass and spread a bright smile across her green eyed, full lipped face as she said: ‘Mornin’ to you, Adam Steele. You’re gonna have some pain for awhile and be a little stiff. But Doc Stanton said no permanent damage was done.’

She was still dressed in the man’s shirt and pants. The paint and powder on her face was smeared and her red hair was in disarray.

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